We have known Jim & Donna Klinge for over a dozen years, having met them in Carlsbad where our children went to the same school. As long time North County residents, it was a no- brainer for us to have the Klinges be our eyes and ears for San Diego real estate in general and North County in particular. As my military career caused our family to move all over the country and overseas to Asia, Europe and the Pacific, we trusted Jim and Donna to help keep our house in Carlsbad rented with reliable and respectful tenants for over 10 years.
Naturally, when the time came to sell our beloved Carlsbad home to pursue a rural lifestyle in retirement out of California, we could think of no better team to represent us than Jim and Donna. They immediately went to work to update our house built in 2004 to current-day standards and trends — in 2 short months they transformed it into a literal modern-day masterpiece. We trusted their judgement implicitly and followed 100% of their recommended changes. When our house finally came on the market, there was a blizzard of serious interest, we had multiple offers by the third day and it sold in just 5 days after a frenzied bidding war for 20% above our asking price! The investment we made in upgrades recommended by Jim and Donna yielded a 4-fold return, in the process setting a new high water mark for a house sold in our community.
In our view, there are no better real estate professionals in all of San Diego than Jim and Donna Klinge. Buying or selling, you must run and beg Jim and Donna Klinge to represent you! Our family will never forget Jim, Donna, and their whole team at Compass — we are forever grateful to them.
Jim, Last week I found a house I was interested in and the listing said offers would be reviewed on a certain date (it was about a week later). The location was remote, several hours drive out of town, so I planned to meet an agent there over the weekend. Late Friday night the agent called to tell he was informed by the sellers agent that they had an offer they liked and would not wait until the stated offer review date, and would not look at offers after the next morning. My only chance was to drive there early the next day , take a quick look and immediately write up and submit and offer that morning at a price that would be much higher than list. I said no thanks, as it would leave me no time to really evaluate the deal, and was annoyed to learn that the review date was meaningless What is your take?
There is no code among agents. It’s bad enough that they deprived you of a chance to buy the property, and deny their own seller of other offers to consider.
But they should also have respect for the other agents out here working their butt off trying to help buyers. It is demanding work with little satisfaction. To be telling the buyer-agents that they have until x date to submit an offer, and then change the game with no notice is wrong.
Auctions are going to take over the business some day, and put realtors out of business. We have no one to blame but ourselves because we live with such shoddy and corrupt practices. You hear complaints, but that’s as far as it goes. Nobody in the industry does anything about it.
I hope Compass develops and manages a brisk off-market opportunity. We have the framework in place, but nobody is pushing it as a real alternative. A strictly-managed marketplace that ends the shenanigans will be the only chance to save ourselves.
Thanks, I thought maybe I was wrong or naive to rely on the review date as stated in the listing. PS, I’m not in the San Diego area, or I would have you as my agent!
Sorry to hear another story like yours. It’s embarrassing.
I can’t think of any seminar or training by any real estate entity that teaches agents how to conduct a proper bidding war. None. Never. The best CAR could do was to issue a spreadsheet.
Today I saw an agent who had online bidding available, and listed the highest bid. He had to muck it up with a hefty buyer’s premium, and warnings that seller might take an offer any time and/or has a reserve of some unknown amount.
But hey, at least it’s a start.